nix3-run(1)

    Warning
    This program is experimental (../../contributing/experimental-features.md#xp-feature-nix-command) and its interface is subject to change.

Name

nix run - run a Nix application

Synopsis

nix run [option…] installable args…

Note: this command’s interface is based heavily around installables (./nix.md#installables) , which you may want to read about first (nix --help).

Examples

•   Run the default app from the blender-bin flake:

    # nix run blender-bin

•   Run a non-default app from the blender-bin flake:

    # nix run blender-bin#blender_2_83

    Tip: you can find apps provided by this flake by running nix flake show blender-bin.

•   Run vim from the nixpkgs flake:

    # nix run nixpkgs#vim

    Note that vim (as of the time of writing of this page) is not an app but a package. Thus, Lix runs the eponymous file from the vim package.

•   Run vim with arguments:

    # nix run nixpkgs#vim -- --help

Description

nix run builds and runs installable (./nix.md#installables) , which must evaluate to an app or a regular Nix derivation.

If installable evaluates to an app (see below), it executes the program specified by the app definition.

If installable evaluates to a derivation, it will try to execute the program <out>/bin/<name>, where out is the primary output store path of the derivation, and name is the first of the following that exists:

•   The meta.mainProgram attribute of the derivation.

•   The pname attribute of the derivation.

•   The name part of the value of the name attribute of the derivation.

For instance, if name is set to hello-1.10, nix run will run $out/bin/hello.

Flake output attributes

If no flake output attribute is given, nix run tries the following flake output attributes:

•   apps.<system>.default

•   packages.<system>.default

If an attribute name is given, nix run tries the following flake output attributes:

•   apps.<system>.<name>

•   packages.<system>.<name>

•   legacyPackages.<system>.<name>

Apps

An app is specified by a flake output attribute named apps.<system>.<name>. It looks like this:

    apps.x86_64-linux.blender_2_79 = {
      type = "app";
      program = "${self.packages.x86_64-linux.blender_2_79}/bin/blender";
    };

The only supported attributes are:

•   type (required): Must be set to app.

•   program (required): The full path of the executable to run. It must reside in the Nix store.

Options

Common evaluation options:

•   --arg (#opt-arg) name expr Pass the value expr as the argument name to Nix functions.

•   --argstr (#opt-argstr) name string Pass the string string as the argument name to Nix functions.

•   --debugger (#opt-debugger) Start an interactive environment if evaluation fails.

•   --eval-store (#opt-eval-store) store-url The URL of the Nix store (../../command-ref/new-cli/nix3-help-stores.md#store-url-format) to use for evaluation, i.e. to store derivations (.drv files) and inputs referenced by them.

•   --impure (#opt-impure) Allow access to mutable paths and repositories.

•   --include (#opt-include) / -I path Add path to the Nix search path. The Nix search path is initialized from the colon-separated NIX_PATH (../../command-ref/env-common.md#env-NIX_PATH) environment variable, and is used to look up the location of Nix expressions using paths (../../language/values.md#type-path) enclosed in angle brackets (i.e., <nixpkgs>).

    For instance, passing

    -I /home/eelco/Dev
    -I /etc/nixos

    will cause Lix to look for paths relative to /home/eelco/Dev and /etc/nixos, in that order. This is equivalent to setting the NIX_PATH environment variable to

    /home/eelco/Dev:/etc/nixos

    It is also possible to match paths against a prefix. For example, passing

    -I nixpkgs=/home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-branch
    -I /etc/nixos

    will cause Lix to search for <nixpkgs/path> in /home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-branch/path and /etc/nixos/nixpkgs/path.

    If a path in the Nix search path starts with http:// or https://, it is interpreted as the URL of a tarball that will be downloaded and unpacked to a temporary location. The tarball must consist of a single top-level directory. For example, passing

    -I nixpkgs=https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/master.tar.gz

    tells Lix to download and use the current contents of the master branch in the nixpkgs repository.

    The URLs of the tarballs from the official nixos.org channels (see the manual page for nix-channel (../nix-channel.md) ) can be abbreviated as channel:<channel-name>. For instance, the following two flags are equivalent:

    -I nixpkgs=channel:nixos-21.05
    -I nixpkgs=https://channels.nixos.org/nixos-21.05/nixexprs.tar.xz

    You can also fetch source trees using flake URLs (./nix3-flake.md#url-like-syntax) and add them to the search path. For instance,

    -I nixpkgs=flake:nixpkgs

    specifies that the prefix nixpkgs shall refer to the source tree downloaded from the nixpkgs entry in the flake registry. Similarly,

    -I nixpkgs=flake:github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-22.05

    makes <nixpkgs> refer to a particular branch of the NixOS/nixpkgs repository on GitHub.

•   --override-flake (#opt-override-flake) original-ref resolved-ref Override the flake registries, redirecting original-ref to resolved-ref.

Common flake-related options:

•   --commit-lock-file (#opt-commit-lock-file) Commit changes to the flake’s lock file.

•   --inputs-from (#opt-inputs-from) flake-url Use the inputs of the specified flake as registry entries.

•   --no-registries (#opt-no-registries) Don’t allow lookups in the flake registries. This option is deprecated; use --no-use-registries.

•   --no-update-lock-file (#opt-no-update-lock-file) Do not allow any updates to the flake’s lock file.

•   --no-write-lock-file (#opt-no-write-lock-file) Do not write the flake’s newly generated lock file.

•   --output-lock-file (#opt-output-lock-file) flake-lock-path Write the given lock file instead of flake.lock within the top-level flake.

•   --override-input (#opt-override-input) input-path flake-url Override a specific flake input (e.g. dwarffs/nixpkgs). This implies --no-write-lock-file.

•   --reference-lock-file (#opt-reference-lock-file) flake-lock-path Read the given lock file instead of flake.lock within the top-level flake.

Logging-related options:

•   --debug (#opt-debug) Set the logging verbosity level to ‘debug’.

•   --log-format (#opt-log-format) format Set the format of log output; one of raw, internal-json, bar, bar-with-logs, multiline or multiline-with-logs.

•   --print-build-logs (#opt-print-build-logs) / -L Print full build logs on standard error.

•   --quiet (#opt-quiet) Decrease the logging verbosity level.

•   --verbose (#opt-verbose) / -v Increase the logging verbosity level.

Miscellaneous global options:

•   --help (#opt-help) Show usage information.

•   --offline (#opt-offline) Disable substituters and consider all previously downloaded files up-to-date.

•   --option (#opt-option) name value Set the Lix configuration setting name to value (overriding nix.conf).

•   --refresh (#opt-refresh) Consider all previously downloaded files out-of-date.

•   --repair (#opt-repair) During evaluation, rewrite missing or corrupted files in the Nix store. During building, rebuild missing or corrupted store paths.

•   --version (#opt-version) Show version information.

Options that change the interpretation of installables (../../command-ref/new-cli/nix.md#installables) :

•   --expr (#opt-expr) / -E expr Interpret installables (../../command-ref/new-cli/nix.md#installables) as attribute paths relative to the Nix expression expr.

•   --file (#opt-file) / -f file Interpret installables (../../command-ref/new-cli/nix.md#installables) as attribute paths relative to the Nix expression stored in file. If file is the character -, then a Nix expression will be read from standard input. Implies --impure.

    Note

    See man nix.conf (../../command-ref/conf-file.md#command-line-flags) for overriding configuration settings with command line flags.